Recommended Books for Coaching, Leadership & Teams
A Book for All Leaders
“The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company” is an invaluable book for organisations, small and large. The book, written by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter and James Noel demonstrates an easy to understand and use approach that allows organisations to keep their leadership pipeline full and flowing. In this day and age when one of the key aims of businesses is “to attract and retain good people” filling the leadership pipeline is critical to business success.
The authors use the natural hierarchy of work in most organisations and focus on the managerial-leadership work rather than technical or professional work. Their hierarchy has six career passages or pipeline turns. Each organisational position, which is a different level and complexity of leadership, involves a major change in job requirements, demanding new skills, time applications and work values.
The book explores the six leadership passages in detail, identifying the skills, use of time, and work values unique to each passage. A highly recommended read!!
The Leader as Coach
“Solution-Focused Coaching, Managing People in a Complex World” is written by Jane Greene and Anthony M. Grant, PhD. Tony Grant is a Coaching Psychologist and Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at the University of Sydney. This book is based on Tony’s research into coaching as well as his experience from his coaching practice.
It is the job of all leaders and managers to coach their people. It’s how much and how effectively they do it that determines the results. The book quotes a survey of 4000 companies that found the reported benefits of coaching included:
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Improved individual performance
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Improved profit, client service and competitiveness
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Development of people for the next level
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Management/staff relationship improvement
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Improved retention
All pretty sound reasons for coaching.
The book talks about change and how to approach it, provides simple tools and techniques for leaders and managers to use and provides a game plan for the manager coach. Far from an academic treatise on the psychology of coaching, this is an easy to read book with simple and valuable ideas and techniques that every manager can use.
Winning Organisations
“The First XI: Winning Organisations in Australia”, second edition, documents the findings of a three year research study to answer the questions:
The research methodology was based on that used in “Built to Last”, published in the U.S. in 1994 and takes account of the unique aspects of the Australian business and social environment and culture.
The researchers and authors, Graham Hubbard, Delyth Samuel, Simon Heap and Graeme Cocks, identified nine principles of organisational life that lead to “winning”. The organisations analysed in the study have existed for at least 20 years and have succeeded over long periods. They define success as “using a balanced scorecard approach”, not just financial performance.
The principles and examples from the winning organisations will provide leaders with inspiration and a practical framework for improving their organisational practice and eventually their organisational performance. But, the authors warn, it is not about easy fixes!!
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
The majority of this book, written by Patrick Lencioni, is a Leadership Fable that illustrates the five dysfunctions of a team. Lencioni tells the story of Kathryn Petersen, who is appointed to the position of CEO of a high tech company in Silicon Valley. She soon discovers that her management team, while individually talented, is totally dysfunctional as a team, so much so that it threatens to bring down the company. Her challenge is to unite the team and provide strong leadership requiring courage and insight.
Throughout the story, the author reveals the five dysfunctions that go to the heart of why teams, even the best ones, often struggle. He outlines a model and action steps that can be used to overcome the common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team.
Lencioni’s five dysfunctions are:
This book is easy to read, tells a gripping tale and finishes up by explaining the five dysfunctions. It includes suggestions and team activities for overcoming each of the dysfunctions as well as a team questionnaire that can be used as a “before” and “after” assessment for how well a team is functioning.
First, Break all the Rules
What the World’s Greatest Managers do Differently
For more that 60 years, The Gallup Organization has been a world leader in the measurement and analysis of human attitudes, opinions and behaviour. The company is best know for The Gallup Poll however it also carries out considerable research and measurement with managers and workplaces.
“First, Break all the Rules” is written by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, two of Gallup’s leaders who have been involved in organisational research. Buckingham and Coffman present the remarkable findings of their massive in-depth study of great managers across a wide variety of situations. The findings are based on in-depth interviews of over 80,000 managers in over 400 companies. They include senior leaders, front-line supervisors, Fortune 500 companies, key players in small, entrepreneurial companies. The book presents the proof of the link between employee opinions and productivity, profit, customer satisfaction and the rate of turnover.
The book not only documents vital performance and career lessons, but shows the reader how to apply them to their own organisation.
The Wisdom of Teams
Teams are the key to improving performance in all kinds of organisations. However today’s business leaders consistently overlook opportunities to exploit their potential, confusing teams with teamwork, empowerment or participative management.
In The Wisdom of Teams, authors Katzenbach and Smith argue that organisations cannot meet the challenges ahead without sound teams.
Katzenbach and Smith carried out research with hundreds of people in over 50 different teams in 30 companies to discover what differentiates various levels of team performance, where and how teams work best and how to enhance their effectiveness.
Among their findings are elements of both common and uncommon sense:
- Formal hierarchy is actually good for teams, and vice versa.
- Successful team leaders do not fit an ideal profile and are not necessarily the most senior people on the team.
- Real teams are the most common characteristic of successful change efforts at all levels.
- Top management teams are usually smaller and more difficult to sustain.
- Despite the increased number of teams, their performance potential is largely unrecognised and underutilised.
- Team “endings” can be as important to manage as team beginnings, e.g. project teams that dismantle at the end of the project.
- Teams produce a unique blend of performance and personal learning results.
This book is full of valuable information on all of the above findings and more. Learn how to better use this powerful approach to meet your organisation’s competitive challenges.
Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders Today
You’ve heard about Gen Ys; you’ve read about Gen Ys; you likely employ a few Gen Ys. This is another current topic of conversation and often frustration for leaders and managers. And now there’s a recently published book based on research with all four generations that are now in the work force and have to work together more closely than ever before. Avril Henry, a Sydney based consultant, is the author and conducted the research that forms the basis of the book. Avril specialises in generational diversity and leadership. Her aim is to help people understand the differences that exist between the generations.
The book reveals the values, world views and experiences of the Veterans, Boomers, Generations X and Y. And, yes, you will recognise yourself on several pages! And then Avril continues to cover the theme quoted above – attracting the different generations, keeping them and how to lead and grow them.
This is an easy-to-read book full of valuable information for any leader/manager in any business these days – as long as you deal with people!
These books are available from the AIM Bookshop in North Sydney, tel. 9956-3999. Corporate Learning clients who mention this referral will receive a 10% discount.
Prepared by Linda McDonald
Corporate Learning
129 Bent Street
Lindfield, NSW 2070
Tel 02 9416 1576 Fax 02 9416 6753
Email
www.corporatelearning.com.au
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